Apparently, the world is awash with people who can’t pinch a good loaf. It seems there’s a cork stuck in the asses of a lot of people out there which has made laxatives almost as commonplace as aspirin on drug store shelves.
We even have studies on the matter which claim, “Many people underestimated how often they strained. Overall, 32% of defecations in women and 22% of defecations in men were associated with straining to start and 15% and 9%, respectively, with straining to finish.”
And analysis such as this: “Straining was to some extent related to stool type: the lumpier a stool, the more often it elicited straining. However, it seems likely that straining in some people is just a habit.”
Even so, the same study finds laxative usage trending downward. “Use of laxatives was found to be less prevalent than in the past, and most people with evidence of constipation did not use them.”
That hasn’t stopped marketers from turning log laying difficulties into a full blown public crisis on par with the apparent inability of the entire male species to get and maintain an erection. Working equally as hard as tampon makers do to stop the flow, laxative makers such as Ducolax are gleefully celebrating the bowel blowout with witty ads representing giant, used toilet paper rolls.
